


D for Dex, Defenseman, Dad

by infallibility



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: 4 + 1, Dex's Mom - Freeform, Kid Fic, M/M, dex has a kid, nurseydex briefly, single parent, this accidentally turned into a bitty character study kinda, this is unbeta'd these are trying times, yes all the chow siblings have braces at the same time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:34:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24648799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/infallibility/pseuds/infallibility
Summary: It's not that Dex never brings up Marcie. In fact, he talks about her whenever anything related comes up. The SMH team just has some assumptions that stick, until a tiny girl with red hair and his nose runs to him and calls their teammate "daddy".-or: 4 times that Dex talks about his daughter and the SMH team doesn't get the hint, and the 1 time it all finally clicks.
Relationships: Derek "Nursey" Nurse/William "Dex" Poindexter
Comments: 20
Kudos: 256





	D for Dex, Defenseman, Dad

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I honestly wasn’t expecting for this to be 30% mother hen Eric and shy baby Dex character study and 70% everything else, but it just turned out that way. Sorry for the imbalance in the fic, oof. Anyways, I’ve never really written anything like this before. I might add a second part to this story, or possibly add on to this plot line and continue to show the life of Marcie Poindexter, or maybe I’ll just leave it like this. Who knows. 
> 
> Anyways, enjoy the fic and please let me know what you guys think! Stay safe during these crazy times <3
> 
> xoxo,  
> Issa

i.

The fall semester had just begun, syllabus week coming to a close as the freshman were easing into university life. Eric hums to a song playing on Ransom’s speaker, remembering when he used to be a frog and walked into his first Haus Kegster with a pie and nerves. It was a new school year with the same friends, and while most of the team had stayed the same, there were also the incoming frogs. 

Eric began to think about the boys and how they were holding up as he pulled out the cookies from the oven. He put them on the cooling rack and checked the time on his phone, thinking that in about a minute or so at least one of the frogs would walk into the Haus and make their way either to the kitchen or the disgusting, green couch in the living room. They had begun making a habit to stop by after they were done with class or when they’d have a break in between, already finding a home in the old, grimy Haus. 

It’s seen more blood, sweat, tears, and any other bodily fluids compared to the rest of the houses on every college campus, and yet it was the most welcoming.

Like clockwork, Dex opened the door, closing it gently behind him. Eric could recognize him by his footsteps already; even for his size, it was almost as if Dex had tried to shrink into himself. He had light feet off the ice, quiet and difficult to notice until you saw his red hair enter the room. Eric wondered if it was a freshman thing; he knew that not everyone would be as extroverted as he was, and even during his first few weeks at Samwell, it took a bit for him to open up fully. 

“Dex, is that you?” Eric already knew the answer as he asked this, but he turned around anyways, a smile on his face when Dex came into the kitchen. “How was class?”

“Hey, Bitty,” Dex gave a small smile back, tossing his backpack on the couch before taking a seat at the table. “Eh, it was alright. Still some basic intro stuff, but pretty cool…”

Eric smiled, seeing right through Dex’s tough guy exterior. His eyes betrayed him - he saw the excited gleam, how he sat up when talking about his class even if it was for a quick second. It wouldn’t hurt to push, just a little, without crossing any boundaries, of course. He’d have to tell Shitty about this thought later.

“Really?” Eric leans against the counter, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “Now, not that this was too long ago, but I remember when I was a freshman, it took me a while to get used to being in college!” Dex was listening carefully, nodding along as Eric rambled about his frog year. He meant it all, and his maternal instincts, as Holster would call it, told him that maybe this was something Dex would relate to as well. 

And he was right.

“Yeah, I...I actually get what you mean,” Dex cleared his throat, his hand rising to the back of his neck. A habit that Eric noticed quite early on. “Up until actually moving into my dorm room, I didn’t think that...that college, Samwell, would actually happen. I guess that’s just a small town thing, that with having...stuff back at home you can’t really leave behind.” He furrows his brows, not making eye contact with Eric as he finishes his sentence. Eric, the busy body he is, wants to know more, but knows that it is not his place and that it’ll come up whenever he’s ready.

It’s quiet for a moment, though it’s not awkward like the other lulls in conversation that they have had before. This is a step towards Dex opening up, and Eric will take any and all olive branches that sweet boys will offer. He smiles again, and is about to ask when Chowder and Nursey are coming, though he knows when that will be, when his timer goes off. 

“Oh!” Eric turns around and plates the cookies, putting them in front of Dex. “Hope you like maple brown sugar cookies. Usually I like to experiment with cookies but I know Ransom’s a bit stressed since one of his upper level classes is already giving out a quiz, and Jack stayed up a bit later than usual doing a reading. Figured I’d make those boys something to remind them of home, and I know y'all wouldn’t hesitate to eat anything I put down in front of you.” 

Dex took a bite out of the cookie, eyes widening as he eagerly took another. 

“So? Thoughts?” Eric grinned, knowing that despite Dex’s initial...feelings towards the Samwell Men’s Hockey Team doubling as taste testers for Eric’s endless baking experiments (endless baking in general), the magic he worked in the kitchen didn’t take long to change his mind. 

“These are really good, Bitty! Though, when are they not?” Dex smirked before he finished his cookie, eyes softening. “What’s the recipe for these?” 

Eric blinked, taken aback. Usually it was the moms at church or the boys’ mothers exchanging recipes with him. No one on the team ever really...Asked for the recipes? Not that they would need to know all the ingredients, since Eric was well aware of Wicks’ gluten free diet and Chowder’s severe peanut allergy (though cashews, almonds, walnuts, and nut butter were on the table), and would adjust his recipes for them. 

“I’ll send it to you,” Eric said, pulling out his phone and typing it into a private message with Dex. “Are you...Baking it for someone special?” He asks this slowly, hearing Shitty’s voice in his head telling him to not push and make anyone uncomfortable just to satisfy your own curiosity. 

Instead, Dex lit up again, just like when he was talking about his classes.

“Yeah, maybe. I’ll probably send it to my Ma, since she lives with her anyways,” Dex said this casually, shrugging with a smile still on his face.

“Her?” Bitty tries, knowing that maybe he should’ve just left it at that. But Dex doesn’t seem to be shooting the conversation down just yet, so maybe he’s still in the clear.

“Oh, uh, my Marcie,” he clears his throat again, taking his phone out and scrolling through his camera roll until he settles on a picture. “This is her with Ma and I, just before I left. I’m always trying to get her to try flavors other than lobster, fries, and chocolate. She’s such a picky eater, though I don’t know where she gets that from…”

Eric was a bit surprised, eyes widening when he looked at the picture Dex pulled up. He was expecting a girlfriend, maybe a live-in one? He didn’t know about other families, but his Mama told him about Lorraine from church, whose son Trevor’s girlfriend was living with them for a while. And his cousin Sarah had a summer thing with Trevor’s brother, Terry, and he was practically living at Aunt Judy’s house with how often he came over. 

He pushed the thought to the very back of his mind, focusing on the brown haired woman with Dex’s eyes and the little redheaded girl who looked just like him. From the hair, ears, and freckles, she was the spitting image of Dex, except for the bright green eyes. She was tiny, chubby cheeks squished as Dex and his mother tried to fit all three of them on the screen. 

“Isn’t she just the sweetest little thing!” Eric cooed, zooming in on the picture to get a closer look of Marcie, “And those cheeks! Lord help her if I ever get to squeeze this girl in person! And she looks just like you too Dex, oh my word.”

A soft blush appears on Dex’s face, the tips of his ears reddening as Eric says that. “Yeah? I’m honestly kinda glad to hear that. We were all kinda nervous that she’d look just like her mom, not that I’d love her any less or anything,” he rushes to say that part, eyes widening as he realized how that might have come off, “But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like having a little mini me around.”

“Oh, are your mom and Marcie’s mom…” Eric trails off, wanting to finish that question, but he decides against it. He’s already asked too much, and now asking if he and Marcie had different moms would be treading in Scolding-From-Shitty waters.

Dex shakes his head, turning his attention back to his phone as he swipes through an album full of pictures of him and Marcie. “Ah...No, we don’t really talk about her. I’ve tried, y’know? For Marcie’s sake. I think it’d be good for her to at least know her mom cares about her and didn’t abandon her, but…” he swallows hard, staring too intensely at his screen, “Anyways, Ma always tells me I do just fine without Marcie’s mom, so I think I’m doing a good job.”

Eric doesn’t really think too much about it, though he nods sympathetically, pushing the plate of cookies closer to Dex. He picks up his phone from off the table again, sending Dex more messages in quick succession.

“You send these recipes to your Mama, sweetpea. I was never a picky boy, not with Coach telling me I couldn’t go to the ice without eating all my carrots, but these meals I’m sending you were ones that I absolutely loved when I was younger. Healthy, too.” Dex opened his mouth to say something, but Eric patted his hand before getting up and rolling up his sleeves, ready to tackle the dishes. “Let me know what your Mama and Marcie think. Shouldn’t be too time consuming, either.” 

He continued to talk about the different foods some kids would be more keen on trying, forgetting the heavy topic all together. Well, except for the little girl that looked exactly like one of Samwell Men's Hockey Team’s defensemen.

ii.

“Cartoon Network is way too inappropriate for a child!”

“It’s not that bad! You just think it is because of Adult Swim, but what kid stays up until 11pm?”

“Some do.”

“All I’m saying is that Cartoon Network had Yu-Gi-Oh and Bakugan, which are so key in being a segway into anime.”

“Disney is a staple, though!”

It was a Thursday afternoon in the Haus, and just like any other day in the Haus, there was bound to be yelling between a couple of the boys. Today, like most Thursdays, it was Chowder and Hops. They had just come home from their GenEd, which was a class about the “future of TV” and how it affected youth. Usually, much like today, their arguments were about their favorite shows growing up.

“I watched PBS, but that was also because my moms were afraid I’d turn into a hooligan if I watched Nickelodeon or something,” Nursey added, sitting down next to Chowder. He threw his arm behind the goalie, patting his shoulder. “Sorry, Hops, but I’m gonna have to side with C on this one.” 

“What’s going on?” Dex asks as he enters the Haus, sitting on the loveseat across from them, tossing his bag on the floor next to him.

“Oh, hi Dex!” Chowder greets, smiling widely. Dex smiles back, and no one notices how Nursey’s eyes linger on him just a second too long before turning his attention back to a very interesting piece of fuzz on his sweater. “We’re talking about what we used to watch when we were younger.”

“Huh,” Dex thinks for a minute, crossing his legs as he thought for a moment. “I usually just watched whatever my siblings put on, but Marcie insists on watching only Cartoon Network.” 

“Ha!” Hops sits up, pointing a finger at a groaning Chowder. “Now we’re tied!” 

“But Dex,” Chowder whines, pouting at his friend. “Disney’s way better for kids!”

Dex shrugs, a sheepish smile on his face. “All the older parents say that too, but some of the younger parents I talk to say it’s fine? So I guess as long as Marcie doesn’t throw a fit over it, I think I’m doing a good job TV wise. Plus, she usually just plays outside anyways.”

“Does she help out on your uncle’s lobster boat too instead of watching Cartoon Network during summer break?” Nursey teases, smirking at Dex. The redhead rolls his eyes, scowling in response as he flips him off. 

“Okay, so let’s ask Jack then,” Hops tried again, catching the attention of the team captain, who was in the kitchen with Eric working on an assignment together. “What’d you watch as a kid?”

Jack came out of the kitchen, leaning against the wall as he thought for a moment. “Uh, Calliou   
and Blue’s Clues mostly? Maman says I’d be glued to the screen whenever Max and Ruby came on, though.”

The room became silent, all of them looking at Jack with wide eyes. Jack looked back at all of them, clearly confused at the sudden change of atmosphere. 

“What? Are those bad shows?”

“No, well, we just-” Hops starts, looking at Chowder for help.

“I think...um...I don’t actually know why we’re so shocked, honestly?” 

“Jack, honey, I think it’s because we all expected you to watch hockey tape and whatever game was going on, even as a little boy. With your daddy being Bad Bob Zimmerman and all that,” Eric chirps. 

“Or a documentary about the World Wars or something,” Dex adds with a snort.

Jack lets out a quiet “huh”, before nodding in agreement. “Can’t argue with that,” he says before following Eric back into the kitchen. 

It wasn’t long before Chowder and Hops managed to rope in the rest of the team on their weekly debate, talking over each other too loudly and intensely to think twice about what Dex had said.

iii.

Ever since Nursey and Dex started sharing a room, it’s been nothing but endless arguments. It was bad their frog year, but being forced to share a small space did nothing to help their relationship. They both knew that Chowder had talked to Eric about their fighting, feeling guilty when they were finally approached after a minor fight earlier in the day affected their playing during a game against Yale. 

Nursey can’t help it - he loves riling Dex up. It’s honestly his favorite pastime, besides lying in a pile of leaves at the quad. He doesn’t mean to be an asshole sometimes, just like how he knows Dex doesn’t mean to get as aggressive in his comebacks. Nursey would like to think that it’s mutually a lighthearted thing, an inside joke that may get a bit too loud at times, though he knows that’s unlikely. 

To be fair, Nursey has been trying to pick and choose his battles with Dex. They can’t afford to lose the next few games; the season’s been pretty rough already and with it being Shitty and Jack’s last year, they would hate to be the reason why they don’t make it into the playoffs. He’s been doing everything he can to make sure if he’s the reason why Dex’s fuse is about to blow, it’ll be water under the bridge come game night.

So that’s why when Nursey walks into their room after his feminist literature class and hears Dex on the phone, he doesn’t immediately start making lewd noises or talk loudly about drugs to disrupt his roommate’s conversation. He’s Derek Nurse, after all, and even when he is bothering Dex, he is chill one hundred percent of the time. He closes the door quietly, making sure not to pull his desk chair back too loudly as he settles down and gets started on his annotations.

Dex’s conversation becomes background noise as Nursey does his work. He has an earbud in, listening to some folk pop playlist on Spotify, another ear open just in case someone calls for him. 

“Alright, bun. I’ll talk to you soon. Bye, Daddy loves you so much.” 

Maybe it’s because he’s been doing work all day or just needs more sleep and water instead of only Annie’s coffee, but Nursey is pretty sure that Dex just called himself daddy. His mind instantly leads him to something more...mature. He’d be lying if he said that he never thought of Dex in that way. 

Nursey’s face started to get warmer, and suddenly his sweater was starting to make him feel a bit too stuffy. Were his jeans always this tight? His mind was dragging him through a million different thoughts, rather fantasies, at once, and he was trying so hard to focus on the awful song playing that he almost didn’t hear Dex come up behind him.

“Hey, Nurse,” Dex had rolled his chair over to Nursey, who had now ripped his earbud out. “Didn’t hear you come in.” 

“Oh. Um. Yeah. ” Nursey swallows, feeling, for the first time in front of William Poindexter, very unchill. He rubs his sweaty palms on his jeans, clearing his throat before finally forming a coherent sentence. “Heard you on the phone, so I, uh...Didn’t wanna bother you.”

Dex looks at him for a long time, and while Nursey knows it was probably no more than a second, it felt like the redhead from Maine that he may or may not have been pining over since their frog year could see right through him.

“Thanks for that, I guess,” Dex says quietly, suddenly turning away from Nursey and going back over to his desk. 

Maybe Dex said daffy, or madly, or any other word that rhymes with daddy that wasn’t daddy. Maybe Nursey needs to play more quiet music, so his ears stop hearing the wrong thing. Maybe he needs to get his eyes checked while he’s at it, since he’s positive that he was just seeing things and not Poindexter’s face flushing when they were looking at each other for too long, sitting too closely.

iv.

Family weekend is only a few days away, and all the boys are excited for their families to come to Samwell for a couple days. Some of the team can only visit home for the long semester breaks, and for a few of the freshmen, even Whiskey, it’s taking a toll to be apart from their families for so long. 

The Haus is buzzing with excitement, eager to show their parents what they have learned and fallen in love with during their time so far in Samwell. Even Jack and Shitty are coming back. Ollie was taking his brother, a freshman at BC, to the kegster after their game, which was happening whether or not they lost. Even Ransom’s older sister, who had graduated from her own college years ago, was coming down for her brother’s “frat party”.

“We’re not a frat,” Ransom grumbled, slouching further into the couch. Holster nodded in agreement, grabbing his best friend by the shoulders.

“We’re a brotherhood.” 

“I like that,” Chowder supplied, looking at the two co-captains brightly. “It’s like we’re a family.” They ended up tackling their goalie, smothering him with their hugs.

“Chris Chow, never change.”

After their “cuddle puddle” (Chowder’s words), he straightened out his Sharks hoodie, practically bouncing with excitement.

“I can’t wait to see my sisters again! My parents decided to give them their braces way earlier than they did with me, but they got their bands to be in Samwell’s colors, so it’s like we’re all matching!” 

“Isn’t that just the sweetest, hon,” Eric cooed, patting Chowder’s head before getting up to get the pies out of the oven with Dex following after him. Ever since their talk with the cookies during his freshman year, Dex had slowly become interested in baking and even helped Eric around in the kitchen. 

“So are we going to finally meet Marcie this weekend, Dex?” Eric asked, taking out the pie as Dex got out the paper plates and plastic utensils. Usually, they’d just leave it out on the table and it’d be first come, first serve, but it wasn’t every day that most of the team was sitting in the living room like a bunch of kids waiting to open up their holiday presents.

“Yeah,” he replied, his face breaking out into a soft look, “She was sick last year, so she and Ma couldn’t make the drive down. But I called earlier, and my brother’s driving them down so they’ll probably get here the day before our game.” Dex placed the paper plates on the coffee table, which some of the guys cleared for Eric’s pies.

“Oh yeah, there must be a big age gap between you guys, huh?” Chowder takes a piece of pie from Bitty, which he passes down to Nursey. Nursey moans loudly as he takes a bite of the pie, which Eric rolls his eyes at and Dex wishes didn’t affect him as much as it did, even if his fellow defenseman did it as a joke. 

He’s brought back to earth when Chowder nudges him slightly with his elbow, and he suddenly remembers that now is not the time to replay your teammate’s moan over and over again in your mind.

“Ayuh, of course,” Dex chuckles, raising a brow at his friend. Chowder doesn’t seem to notice the confusion on his face.

“Yeah, haha, same. I miss my kid sisters,” Dex opens his mouth, about to ask what he means by that, but Chowder keeps going. “Sometimes I feel like I’m raising Christy and Cayla, y’know? Since the age gap is so big. But I wouldn’t have it any other way!”

Suddenly everyone else starts talking about their older or younger siblings, either agreeing with or wanting to switch places with him as they share their own stories.

Dex’s confusion only intensifies when he looks across the room and finds Nursey already looking at him, a small smile on his face as he shrugs. Dex takes another bite of his pie, and files that look (and that moan) in a special corner of his mind for later.

v.

They win the game.

It was a tough match against BC (the goalie was Ollie’s brother’s roommate), but Chowder was able to block a lot of their opponent's goals while Samwell made it past the BC goalie. Faber was more filled than usual, which could be attributed to family weekend. Winning any game was a great feeling, but knowing that their families, many of whom traveled far, and their peers’ families had come to watch them made it so much better. The extra cheers were definitely a plus.

The seniors were recognized after the game and skated off the ice last, Holster and Ransom smiling brightly to their proud families, in addition to Lardo and her sister right next to them.

Samwell’s men’s hockey team was in good spirits, to say the least, when they walked towards the locker rooms. They were pumped with energy from not only the game, but knowing that their families were close by. Eric was talking about how his mom made mini pies for all of them, while Ollie laughed about how awkward it would be for his brother to face his roommate once Monday rolled around.

They were all so preoccupied with their own conversations and thoughts that they failed to notice the woman just outside of the locker room holding a small girl, and definitely didn’t see her wriggling out of the woman’s arms to run towards the team.

They did, however, hear her before they saw her.

“Daddy!” she screamed, causing the boys to stop talking immediately and look around until they realized they should look down instead.

“What-”

“Who-”

“Hey, doesn’t she look like-”

“Marcie!” Dex got down on his knees, still in his gear, and wrapped his arms around the little girl who was wearing a DIY SMH jersey with Dex’s number painted on the back. She wrapped her arms around his neck, giggling loudly as he stood up, throwing her into the air before catching her and smothering her in kisses. 

They all looked at each other, eyes wide and jaws dropping when they put the pieces together. 

“Oh,” Bitty starts, his hand coming up to his mouth, “Oh my word! Dex, I thought Marcie was your sister!” 

“We all did!” Chowder laughs, patting his friend on the back. Murmurs could be heard agreeing with him.

“What?” Dex laughs, looking at them all with wide eyes, though instead of shock, it’s in amusement. He adjusts Marcie so that she sits comfortably on his shoulders, her chin resting on his head. “Guys, I thought you all knew that I had a kid.”

“So when you talked about her mom -” Bitty starts again, realizing that it wasn’t a step parent or Mr. Poindexter’s secret mistress he was talking about.

“I, uh. I had a girlfriend in high school, and right before we graduated we had Marcie. Word gets around fast in our town, so once we got our diplomas, she left and blocked me on everything,” he explains, though he shrugs and pats Marcie’s leg, who then tugs on his hair and giggles when her dad winces. “But Ma helps around the most, and my siblings take turns watching her while I’m at school.” 

“Missed you, daddy,” Marcie says, grabbing his nose. With the two of them together, the boys see that she really does take after their teammate. Some of her baby fat disappeared from the last picture they saw of her, but it was expected for a growing toddler.

“Missed you too, bun,” Dex says with a smile, bringing his daughter back down so that he’s carrying her on his hip. “You guys, uh, don’t mind if she comes into the locker room, right? I can hang out in the trophy room while you guys change. My mom has to go out to meet up with my brothers and sisters so-”

“Bro, we’ll literally shower and change so quickly so we get to see more of this adorable child that is your spawn,” Holster says this seriously as he tickles Marcie. Dex lets out a sigh of relief, not wanting to part from his little girl since it’s already been a while since he last saw her. He gives her a kiss to the side of her head, adjusting her little pigtail.

-vi-

True to their word, the team, sans the Poindexters, make a beeline for the showers so that they could all change and take turns watching Marcie and playing with her while Dex freshened up as well. When he was done, Marcie ran into his arms again and they all swooned at how cute their teammate’s daughter was.

How Marcie Poindexter was able to get an entire hockey team wrapped around her chubby, toddler’s finger was beyond him, but Dex definitely didn’t hate it. He was also glad that they didn’t treat him any different for being a young, single father. Except, well.

“So, uh, you’re a dad,” Nursey says bluntly, not making eye contact with Dex. He is, however, bouncing Marcie on his leg and smiling as she laughs loudly and keeps saying “again! Again!”

After some of them took pictures with Marcie and put videos of her doing cute and funny toddler things on their Snapchats (with Dex’s permission, of course), the team slowly trickled out of the locker room to meet up with their families. Which left Dex and Nursey alone together with his daughter.

“Ayuh,” Dex says, lightly squeezing Marcie’s cheek. “Something wrong with that?”

Nursey shakes his head quickly, turning his head quickly to face Dex. He stopped bouncing his leg, causing Marcie to pout and crawl over to her dad. Dex wordlessly picks her up, kissing the top of her head as she leans into him.

“No! Not at all! Like...Well, I wasn’t expecting it,” he says quietly, causing Dex to snort.

“I don’t think anyone expects their college teammates to be single dads.”

Nursey lets out a short laugh at that, the corner of his lips quirked up in a small, shy smile. “Not what I meant, Poindexter. It’s just that...When you still had your “proud republican” sticker from freshman year, I always kinda just assumed that you were one of those pro-lifers too.” 

Dex hums at that, looking down at his daughter as she played with his hands. He took off that sticker a couple weeks into their first semester when his views changed after attending a feminist discussion panel Shitty was participating in. 

“Makes sense. Can’t blame you for thinking that.” he sighed, looking back up at Nursey. “I did think that for a while, especially once Marcie was born. I thought, how could anyone not give my beautiful girl a chance? But then I realized that while I’m a single dad and her mom isn’t in her L-I-F-E, there are other people who have it way harder than me. I don’t regret Marcie at all, but I don’t think that I, especially as a man, have a say in what others do in their life.”

Dex finished and when he looked at Nursey, really looked at him, he saw Derek. Maybe he’s been Derek this entire time, not just a teammate or someone who infuriated him, especially when they shared a room before Dex moved into the basement. Maybe it was after that afternoon after he got off the phone with his Ma and Marcie, and started seeing Derek differently. 

Maybe he’ll take Marcie out for froyo later, as a thank you for bringing his attention back to reality and not dreaming about how pretty Derek Nurse looks up close.

Derek smiles brightly at him, lightly punching his shoulder. “Chill, Dex. Didn’t expect that from you.” 

“Yeah, well, Shi- Poopy,” he grimaces as Derek scoffs, “Poopy and I talked about this stuff more with me when we were freshmen. A lot of unlearning, learning, and text on bodily autonomy of women. Send Ma some kid’s books with feminist themes too, for Marcie.” 

Derek’s usual type was a chill person who just went with the flow like he did. Most of the time, they weren’t into sports, were elitist, had a superiority complex, and almost always had a nicotine addiction. 

His type now, at this exact moment, and maybe for a couple months, was a young dad who, despite arguing with him almost every day, somehow knew exactly what he meant with just a quick glance on or off the ice, read feminist texts and sent them to his daughter, and had a heart of gold. 

“Beautiful,” Derek says under his breath unknowingly. Dex tilts his head to the side, confused.

“What?”

“O-Oh,” he stammers, “I mean. Marcie’s really beautiful. Aren’t you, Marcie?” It wasn’t a lie, and if squeezing Marcie’s cute cheeks also meant that he didn’t have to make eye contact with Dex, well, that was also a plus.

“She gets it from her daddy, don’t you Marcie?” Marcie nods, flashing Derek a smile that looks so much like Dex’s that he can’t help but let out a small squeak.

“She does.”

Derek realizes what he just said and looks at Dex, finding that his eyes are already on him. It’s quiet for a moment, eyes not leaving each other, until Marcie starts to get fussy and voices that she wants to go outside.

“Um, we should uh, we should probably head out to see our parents now,” Dex clears his throat, standing up and grabbing his things all while balancing Marcie. Derek does the same, adjusting his bag. He nods, following him silently. 

It isn’t until they get to the doors at Faber’s entrance does he speak up again.

“You should bring Marcie over more,” Derek gently takes her out of Dex’s arms, her hands reaching out to Nursey and wrapping her arms around his neck, just like she did with her dad earlier.

“Maine’s far, Nurse.” 

He blushes at that, forgetting that Dex’s family lives hours away and here he is, stumbling over himself, taking time away from Dex being with his family, and probably being the most unchill version of Derek Nurse ever. 

“But you could always come up,” Dex offers quietly, hand behind the nape of his neck. “During the longer breaks. Only if you want to though.”

Derek mulls over this, endless possibilities and meanings of Dex’s offer going through his head. 

“Y-Yeah, I’d like that. I’d love it, actually,” he nods enthusiastically, hugging Marcie tighter. Dex smiles brightly at him, a look of relief on his face. “Would that be okay with you, Marcie? Can I come visit you and your daddy sometimes?”

Marcie nods her head, smiling and looking even more like her dad. Derek puts her down, and she grabs both his hand and Dex’s.

They walk out of Faber together and she swings their arms, jumping down each step.

“Swasome, swasome, swasome!” Marcie excitedly uses the new word she heard from their teammates, and all they could do is look at each other and smile shyly, shrugging their shoulders as they made their way to the quad to meet up with their families.

“Yeah, Marcie, you’re right. It is pretty swasome.”

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry that the ending is....not the best lmao.
> 
> But anyways, come find me on Twitter on Tumblr! I don't bite :^)))
> 
> Twitter: @morningcheck (yes this is a hockey twitter no surprisingly CP didn't have much influence in me getting invested)  
> Tumblr: @senatorqueer
> 
> Be well, friends!


End file.
